FIRST HOUR
Hourglass (Squeeze)
(1987)... a welcome return to the upper reaches of the chart after a six-year gap ~ you would still have expected it to do better than # 16
Too Busy Thinking About My Baby (Marvin Gaye)
(1969) ... Top 5 follow up to the chart-topping I Heard It Through The Grapevine which came with a classic 'B' side - Marvin's 1962 recording of Wherever I Lay My Hat which had failed to chart in the UK
(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear (Blondie)
... from the first of today's featured years ~ a fairly swift follow-up to Denis, their debut hit which was a revival of an old song. This time they went with a Blondie original
Brian Wilson @ 80
... following on from last week's Big Birthday salute to Sir Paul McCartney, it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge another 'born in June 1942' music legend who has reached the same life milestone
Sloop John B (The Beach Boys)
(1966) ... produced and arranged by Brian Wilson, the BBs' 'de facto' leader ~ one of a run of four consecutive Top 3 hits in a year which was by far their most successful in the UK. Sloop John B - also known as The John B Sails - was an old folk song from the Bahamas brought bang up to date with those glorious Beach Boys harmonies. It's also one of the tracks on their hugely influential, ground-breaking Pet Sounds album [W]
Don't Worry Baby (The Beach Boys)
(1964) ... tucked away on the B side of I Get Around # ~ Brian Wilson would later refer to Don't Worry Baby as perhaps the group's finest record. The lead vocal is considered one of his defining performances. # In America, it charted separately, reaching # 24. [W] Another Beach Boys song is on the playlist in the second hour
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You Keep It All In (The Beautiful South)
(1989)... their second Top 10-er which followed soon after the success of their first, Song For Whoever
Newsround Tameside: 44 years ago ~ 1978
What A Waste (Ian Dury & The Blockheads)
... first time on the singles chart for the much-missed master of word play, renowned for tongue-firmly-in-cheek rhymes and wry observations of life. The Blockheads, led by Ian's best friend and 'minder' Derek Hussey continue to celebrate his legacy playing regular live gigs around the country
Stumblin' In (Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman) ... one-off duet which surprisingly just missed out on a Top 40 place.By this time, between them, Suzi and Chris - the lead singer with Smokie - had clocked up around a dozen Top 10-ers
Ça plane pour moi (Plastic Bertrand)
... international hit for the Belgian musician and songwriter ~ real name Roger François Jouret. Described by some as 'parody punk', its title is a French expression best translated as 'everything's going well for me' - literally: 'it is gliding for me' [W]
Boogie Shoes (KC & The Sunshine Band) ... three-year-old album track which became a Top 40 hit after featuring on the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever
I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass (Nick Lowe) ... a mainstay of the '70s pub rock scene, with one of his best known songs
The Man With The Child In His Eyes (Kate Bush) ... written at the tender age of 13, recorded with producer Dave Gilmour when she was 16 ~ and that was three years before it finally saw the light of day on her first album The Kick Inside and also served as a successful follow up to Wuthering Heights
If I Can't Have You (Yvonne Elliman) ... American chart topper which did almost as well here (# 4). At the start of the decade, while still an unknown, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber asked her to sing Mary Magdalene's part for the original studio double album of Jesus Christ Superstar, which led to four years as a member of the stage show's travelling cast [W]
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SECOND HOUR
Put Yourself In My Place (The Elgins)
(1965, US 1971, UK) ... finally made on to our chart a couple of years after it had already been a hit over here for The Isley Brothers ~ two noticeably similar versions sharing that unmistakable Motown sound
Long Train Running (Bananarama)
(1991)... their 20th Top 40 hit, peaking at # 30. The Doobie Brothers' original missed out completely in the UK, when it first came out in the '70s, despite plenty of airplay but a remix finally made the Top 10 a couple of years after Bananarama's version
Here Comes My Baby (Cat Stevens)
- teaser track for our second featured year ~ his own version which remained as an album track while The Tremeloes made it an instant success as a single in the Top 10
Absolutely Lyricless ~the instrumental break
... men of distinct qualities
Man Of Mystery (The Shadows)
(1960) ... second Top 10-er in their own right having topped the chart for several weeks with Apache
Man of Action (Les Reed Orchestra)
(1970) ... theme tune of the offshore pirate radio station Radio North Sea International, written by the prolific composer Les Reed whose credits included numerous hit songs for the likes of Tom Jones
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Temptation (Heaven 17)
(1983) ... the Sheffield trio were joined for this, their biggest hit, by respected session singer Carol Kenyon
Miracle Cure (Daniel Takes A Train)
(2022) ... another play for the recent song from the '80s time-warpers who released their first album 30 years after splitting up. Miracle Cure is all about self-help gurus, health and dietary fads and the quick fix culture, with a powerful drive-time friendly rock groove reminiscent of Tears For Fears, Prefab Spout, Simple Minds or Big Audio Dynamite in their mid-1980s pomp
Newsround pre-Tameside: 55 years ago ~ 1967
When You're Young And In Love (The Marvelettes)
... one of the lesser known Motown groups in the UK, with their only chart hit on this side of the Atlantic. It's not their best known song, though ~ a few years earlier they had the original US hit Please Mr Postman, as covered by The Beatles and much later on by The Carpenters
Alternate Title (The Monkees)
... written by Monkee Micky Dolenz about a party he had attended at the Speakeasy Club in London where the other guests included Top of the Pops 'disc girl' Samantha Juste (his future wife) - inspiring the opening line 'She's a wonderful lady' and Mama Cass of The Mamas and Papas 'the girl in the yellow dress'. The song was retitled Alternate Title for release as a single in the UK - after the record company deemed as inappropriate Dolenz's original suggestion 'Randy Scouse Git' ~ which was how loudmouth Londoner Alf Garnett would often describe his Liverpool born son-in-law in the controversial BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. Dolenz had watched an episode while in England [W]
Heroes and Villains (The Beach Boys)
... continuing our 80th birthday salute to Brian Wilson (see first hour). Co-written with American musician, arranger and producer Van Dyke Parks for the album Smiley Smile, Wilson envisaged an Old West-themed musical comedy that would surpass the recording and artistic achievements of the previous year's Good Vibrations [W]
Dedicated To The One I Love (The Mamas & The Papas)
... much-covered by various artists, successfully reggae-fied in the '90s by Bitty McLean. Mama Cass, as mentioned in The Monkees song played earlier, would go to enjoy solo success over the next couple of years. I thought this was a nice pic of the group - shame about the incorrect use, not once but twice, of the dreaded 'grocer's apostrophe'. Rant over!!! :-)
The Days of Pearly Spencer (David McWilliams)
... much played on the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline but never a chart hit until Marc Almond covered it in the early '90s. it's a song about a homeless man McWilliams had encountered in his native Northern Ireland, featuring 'a sweeping orchestral arrangement and a chorus sung as if through a megaphone. This low-tech effect was actually achieved by recording the vocals from a phone box near the studio! [W]
Jimmy Mack (Martha Reeves & The Vandellas)
... instantly catchy, familiar Motown toe tapper ~ surprisingly, faring no better as a 1970 reissue than on its first outing. For the first AND second time of asking, Jimmy Mack climbed no further than # 21 in the UK
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SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)
[W]: Source: Wikipedia
If you missed any of the show, you can catch up online after 15:00 on Sunday 26/06/2022:
